Sawfish caught with fishing wire tied around rostrum and hooks in mouth; removed and released

An endangered smalltooth sawfish was not what Mac Johnson expected to be at the end of his fishing line when he went shark fishing with some buddies around New Year’s Day, but this one needed help.

Johnson did the right thing when he noticed the fishing lines wrapped around the sawfish, but you aren’t supposed to drag them on shore. They are a very heavy species, and their organs are not equipped to handle the environment outside of the water.

“We saw the bill come out of the water and start shaking, it looked like someone was sitting there waving a sword in the water,” said Johnson.

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While reeling in his catch, Johnson quickly noticed that this endangered species was in danger. And when you realize you have an endangered sawfish on your line, FWC has rules you are supposed to follow.

“We got him up, and we were aware there’s an FWC protocol you try to keep him in the water so it doesn’t damage or hurt the fish. But after we got up kind of close, we saw it had had another fishing line wrapped around his nose. And you see a lot of the big specimens that are missing their bill,” said Johnson.

While shocked and surprised by the catch and encounter, Johnson was nevertheless quick to act.

“Got the bolt cutters cut the line that was entangled as rostrum, got our line off of it, got every single hook,” said Johnson. “We were able to get all that hardware and tackle off his mouth.”

According to NOAA, sawfish use their rostrum to help detect electrical pulses from prey in the water. This shows how important a rostrum is for a sawfish. If their rostrum is hacked or ripped off, it can be deadly.

However, if a fishing line wraps around and constricts their rostrum, it restricts blood flow to the sensors that help them see and detect prey. Thus, to us, it might be like blurring our vision pretty significantly.

Adam Brame is the sawfish recovery coordinator for NOAA, and he told WINK News about the dangers of a sawfish missing their rostrum.

“Fishing gear or other marine debris gets wrapped around the rostrum; they can start to cut off circulation to that part of the body,” said Brame. “we have images of sawfish that, you know, are deformed essentially through time, as the constriction gets more and more as that fish grows.”

While the guidelines from FWC don’t want you to drag the sawfish on the shore, Johnson thought it was necessary if he was going to help the endangered species.

“If you can take that opportunity to cut some lines, or, some smaller rods that it may have been that they didn’t get it in and it’s all like all up in its mouth and hurting the creature, that you can maybe take the time to look at it and see what’s hurting it, and remove those, from the ray, so it can have a long, fulfilling life,” said Johnson.

If you find yourself reeling in a sawfish, as Johnson and his friends did, FWC guidelines state you must release it immediately and report it by calling the sawfish hotline at 1-844-4SAWFISH.